Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to application deployment and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to systems and methods for application deployment in a cloud environment.
History of Related Art
As technology advances, an enterprise is often presented with opportunities to improve upon or modernize its legacy data, applications, and services. One such example is that of migration to a cloud environment. Traditionally, the enterprise's data, applications, and services are maintained on-premises behind a firewall. With the recent proliferation of cloud-based solutions, it has become apparent that capital and operational expenditures can be reduced by migrating all or part of the enterprise's data, applications, and services to the cloud.
Cloud computing generally involves the use of computing resources (hardware and software) that are delivered as a service over a network such as the Internet. Accordingly, as used herein, a cloud or a cloud environment refers to a services environment to which the enterprise can entrust all or part of its data, applications and services. In addition to cost savings, cloud migration potentially provides numerous other advantages such as dynamic scaling, high availability, multi-tenancy, and effective resource allocation.
The enterprise wishing to migrate to the cloud generally begins by selecting a cloud provider. The enterprise then works with the cloud provider to deploy all or part of its data, applications, and services in the cloud. The deployment typically entails substantial manual configuration using an application programming interface (API) of the cloud provider. As cloud computing continues to evolve, oftentimes, it later becomes apparent that the enterprise would be better served by a solution offered by a second cloud provider. However, there is generally not a streamlined way for the enterprise to migrate from a cloud environment of a first cloud provider to a cloud environment of the second cloud provider. This problem is often referred to as cloud-provider lock-in. The migration to the second cloud provider usually requires more manual configurations using separate APIs offered by the first cloud provider and the second cloud provider. Consequently, the enterprise often does not switch cloud providers even when it otherwise makes sense to do so.
Moreover, as the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.